Light emitting diodes (LEDs), can be utilized in light emitting devices or packages for providing white light (e.g., perceived as being white or near-white), and are developing as replacements for incandescent, fluorescent, and metal halide high-intensity discharge (HID) light products. Conventional LED devices or packages can incorporate components such as metallic traces or mounting surfaces which can become tarnished, corroded, or otherwise degraded when exposed to various undesirable chemicals and/or chemical vapors. Such chemicals and/or chemical vapors can enter conventional LED devices, for example, by permeating an encapsulant filling material disposed over such components. In one aspect, undesirable chemicals and/or chemical vapors can contain sulfur, sulfur-containing compounds (e.g., sulfides, sulfites, sulfates, SOx), chlorine and bromine containing complexes, nitric oxide or nitrogen dioxides (e.g., NOx), and oxidizing organic vapor compounds which can permeate the encapsulant and physically degrade various components within the LED device via corroding, oxidizing, darkening, and/or tarnishing such components. Such degradation can adversely affect brightness, reliability, and/or thermal properties of conventional LED devices over time, and can further adversely affect the performance of the devices during operation.
Despite the availability of various light emitting devices in the marketplace, a need remains for devices and components having improved chemical resistance and related methods for preventing undesirable chemicals and/or chemical vapors from reaching and subsequently degrading components within the devices. Devices, components, and methods described herein can advantageously improve chemical resistance to undesirable chemicals and/or chemical vapors within encapsulated LED devices, while promoting ease of manufacture and increasing device reliability and performance in high power and/or high brightness applications. Described methods can be used and applied to create chemically resistant surface mount device (SMD) type of LED devices of any size, thickness, and/or dimension. Devices, components, and methods described herein can advantageously be used and adapted within any style of LED device, for example, devices including a single LED chip, multiple chips, and/or multi-arrays of LEDs and/or devices incorporating different materials for the body or submount such as plastic, ceramic, glass, aluminum nitride (AlN), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), printed circuit board (PCB), metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB), and aluminum panel based devices. Notably, devices, components, and methods herein can prevent degradation of optical and/or thermal properties of devices or packages incorporating silver (Ag) or Ag plated components by preventing tarnishing of the Ag or Ag-plated components.